


Holding On, Gripping Tight

by Lafeae



Series: Whump/Hurt/Comfort challenge [17]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Boss/Employee Relationship, Car Accident, Challenge Response, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-17
Updated: 2019-06-17
Packaged: 2020-05-13 12:23:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19251139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lafeae/pseuds/Lafeae
Summary: After being Kaiba’s assistant for more than eight months, Joey thinks he’s got everything figured out. Including Kaiba’s racy wordplay. But when he asks Joey to accompany him at a symposium and to ‘look nice’ Joey doesn’t know how to feel.It’s definitely not a date. No way.So why does he feel the sudden urge to ask Kaiba out?—Puppyshipping.





	Holding On, Gripping Tight

**Author's Note:**

> Third part in this that I’m now....making a small series? I guess? Tangentially related to bad things happen bingo board. 
> 
> Prompt was ‘vehicular accident’. 
> 
> For sky_kaijou, who made the request.

No matter how many times Joey flattened out the collar in the bathroom mirror, it looked wrong. That wasn’t the collar’s fault. He just looked like a used car salesman. Ties never looked right on him. Thick ties, thin ties, paisley ties, stripped ties, plain ties.

He hated ties.

Why did this symposium require him to wear a tie? Why did this symposium require him?!

Oh, right, because Kaiba liked to punish him, that’s why.

Serenity rapped on the bathroom door. “You almost done, Joey?”

The tie was wriggled up to his neck. “Yeah. Jus’ uh...tryin’ to tame this mess,” he said, his fingers patting at his hair. He had gelled it down, but a few stray hairs always decided to pop up and turn the opposite direction.

“Can I come in?” Serenity asked.

“Yeah, I’m done. Ain’t gonna get much better than this,” he lamented, unlocking the door and tucking one of the stray hairs behind his ear. It flashed in his peripheral a second after. “Ya think this is good enough for this whatever-it-is?”

Serenity braced her hand at her chin and looked him up and down scrupulously. “Yep. You look wonderful, Joe. Like you’re ready for a date.”

“It ain’t a date,” Joey huffed. He regretted every positive thing he’d said in about Kaiba. She took it all to heart.

Serenity shimmied by him, giggling. “Sure, sure.”

“It ain’t! He said he needed me there for, like, notes or somethin’. He usually takes Naomi,” he said, referring to the secretary, “but her kids had some recital.”

“Whatever you say,” Serenity sing-songed. She slammed the door closed before he could rebut.

Taking a deep breath, Joey collected his things and headed for the door. He grabbed a moleskin notebook, his phone, and a small tablet that Kaiba had provided him to ‘make you look more professional’ when he sneered at the notebook. “See ya, Ren! Imma be back late!”

She caught the door as he left and hugged him.

“Be safe,” she said. “Don’t do anything too crazy.”

Joey groaned, and wriggled out her embrace shouting: “It ain’t a date!” while he bolted to the car.

—

Kaiba had been quiet the entire day at work. Business as usual. Take the calls, grab the coffee, transfer the files. The only thing that he got as some kind of greeting was: “Dressing for the camera? You know it’s not a party, right?” Before Kaiba disappeared into his office.

“You asked me t’ look nice!” Joey shouted a few seconds too late.

Naomi laughed behind her wrist.

Really, Joey hadn’t been able to compute what Kaiba said while looking at the executive who was just as dressed up. His hair was pushed out of his eyes, semi-styled, and he wore a just-right shade of navy, pin-strip suit that Joey recalled picking up from the dry-cleaners and wondering who he was going on a date with. The goldenrod tie was a nice touch, too.

It hit him that they were both staring.

And Naomi was watching.

“You’re going to be in for some fun tonight,” she said.

Joey turned back to his computer. “I dunno what you call ‘fun’. I’m gonna be bored to tears, I just know it.”

“It’s not that bad.”

Maybe not. He did get to sit next to Kaiba. And if alcohol was involved, perhaps he could get a few more witticisms out of the brunet. He had been on the look-out (or was it listen-out?) for them ever since they’d both gotten over being feverish. They had to be around each other first. Kaiba had been especially busy or out of town, and Joey had been saddled with the glamorous job of digitising an entire basement’s worth of files for the last month.

“You got any tips?” Joey asked.

“Don’t drink.”

“No duh.”

“Don’t...stop taking notes. If there’s a presentation with a PowerPoint, write every header. Um, lets see, oh! Record everything, seriously. He’s gonna ask for copies. Took me a couple times to figure that out,” she said.

Joey’s stomach sank. This really was going to be death by tech jargon, wasn’t it. “Got it. Just copy everything. My hand’s cramping already,” he said, chuckling. “Damn, I’m gonna fu—mess this up so bad.”

Naomi shot him a sympathetic look. “Relax, it’ll be okay. Mr. Kaiba seems to like your work.”

“Heh. Yeah, well...lotta good that does me.”

A beat of silence. They both went back to typing before Naomi asked: “Why did you want this job?”

“Huh?”

“What made you come here and ask the front desk, and security, and me to let you see Mr. Kaiba? It’s not like you aren’t a talented duelist. If it’s a sponsorship you’re looking for, all you really have to do is ask.”

Unsure, Joey pushed his fingers together until his nails went white. “I been meanin’ to. But I want it outta my own merit. Not jus’ ‘cause I asked. Kaiba...let me in the door for some reason. An’ if he wants me to be a duelist then I ain’t about t’ beg. I needed the job for the money an’...well...”

“You want him, too?” Naomi asked, matter-of-fact. When Joey looked her in the face, she smiled innocently, like Serenity did. Honest and open.

He rubbed the back of his neck. “How’d you know?”

“You two aren’t subtle, dear. Have you thought that...maybe he’s waiting for you to ask?” Naomi asked. Her relative coolness of returning to typing made it easier to think.

“Psh. Nah, why would he do that?”

Naomi shrugged. “You asked for this job and he gave it to you, right?”

“Yeah. But that don’t mean nothin’. It’s a job. I make coffee an’ do...whatever the hell this is...,” he said, tossing down another dusty file. “It ain’t like askin’ someone out on a date. If that were the case, all I’d hafta do is put on good clothes an’ plead my case. It don’t exactly work like that.”

For a split second, Naomi side-eyed him, taking him in head to toe. “Well, I suppose now would be the time to find out.”

Right. He was wearing a good suit and terrible tie. And his hair was styled. Hell, he’d even shined his shoes and put on aftershave. But that didn’t mean anything. It was just because Kaiba told him to look nice.

At the end of the day, a little alert went off on his phone. Kaiba stepped out of his office on cue. “Let’s go, Joseph. It’s a long drive,” he said, handing off his briefcase.

Joey scooped it up along with everything he was going to need for the symposium. As he ran for the elevator, Naomi called out to him. He made a dead stop and pivoted to her, catching her mouth ‘do it!’.

He shook his head vehemently.

Naomi nodded, and gave him a thumbs up and wink.

“Are you coming?” Kaiba asked, his voice smooth as a knife sliding over glass.

Slowly, Joey turned to face Kaiba. There it was, again. He knew the phrasing was intentional, just by the tiny smirk slapped on Kaiba’s face.

This was going to be a long night.

—

Instead of a chauffeur, Kaiba opted to drive to the symposium.

Just getting into the metallic-blue Bugatti Chiron made Joey uneasy. Not because it was just him and Kaiba in a small space—he’d been alone with Kaiba in plenty of cramped elevators—but because the car was too damn nice. He was afraid of scuffing the leather seats or tracking mud. It was a pristine car. A beautiful piece of art.

And Kaiba drove it like a damn maniac.

Rush hour traffic meant nothing to him. He wove between lanes without batting an eye, and when Joey audibly went: “Woah, semi,” on their way out of Domino, Kaiba laughed at him. “What?”

“Scared, Wheeler?”

“No-no! Not at all,” Joey said. Kaiba stony expression said he didn’t believe Joey. “It’s jus’...this thing is so damn smooth. How fast you goin’?”

“How fast do you want me to go?” Kaiba said. Joey couldn’t be sure if that was another twist on his words, and his mouth hung open. “Trying to put your mouth to work?”

“I...uh...”

Kaiba snickered and whipped into another lane. “Just answer me. How fast you want me to go?”

Joey sunk in the seat and laughed. Whatever. He’d go alone with it. “However fast ya want. You’re the boss. I’m game for whatever, man.”

The car roared beneath them as Kaiba pressed the gas to the floor as they hit open road. His insides jumped as they whipped around a wide turn faster than he had seen it coming, and while he wanted to say he was scared, he was confident that he was just as turned on. By what, he couldn’t say. It wasn’t like Kaiba’s possessions were what made Kaiba. It was his constantly variable and off-putting personality. His heart was racing.

“Ya look different, ya know,” Joey said after a while. “The hair. It’s all coiffed. Like, more elegant than usual.”

“Elegant? Coiffed?” Kaiba asked, incredulous. “You do know big words.”

Joey absently looked out the window. Yeah, that was a stupid comment. It did seem like a good way to start asking Kaiba on a date, but he wasn’t sure where to go after. As the seconds ticked by, his back grew hotter. “Sometimes. You rub off on people.”

“I rub off on people?” Kaiba repeated.

“Uh-huh.”

“That was weak, Joseph. You’re trying too hard.”

Joey couldn’t help but smile. He’d been right; Kaiba was messing with him. “I don’t gotta clue what you’re talkin’ about.”

“Of course not. I’m giving you too much credit.”

“Maybe ya ain’t givin’ me enough,” Joey suggested.

“Perhaps,” Kaiba drawled, almost playful.

Nervously, he opened up the notebook and began to draw in the margins, filling them in top to bottom, making sure not to miss any spots. They really were playing a coy word game. Not that Joey knew how to win. Or even what the win parameters were. It certainly wasn’t giving his professionalism any credence, but it was fun. And he got a little something out of being able to mess with Kaiba on some semi-juvenile but pseudo-intellectual level. The only place this would end was a date.

And that made him more nervous than Kaiba’s driving.

—

After an hour, he hadn’t gotten any closer to asking Kaiba out. Instead, an two entire pages of notebook, front and back, had been coloured in with blue ink. “How far away is this place?” Joey asked when he lifted his head. Somewhere along the way, it had started to rain. They had gone from dense cityscape to a wide and rolling countryside, all while he stared at his notebook.

That rain didn’t slow Kaiba down much. They still ripped by wheat fields and idyllic farmhouses. “We’re not far.”

“Good, I’m gettin’ stiff,” Joey said. Kaiba remained stoic and unimpressed. “Why’d ya drive somewhere this far, anyways? Can’t ya take a helicopter or somethin’?”

“They don’t have a helipad to land on.”

Joey snorted. “Can’t ya just land in a field? There’s plenty of it out here.”

“I considered it.”

Yeah, that was his style. “Then why not?”

“Tch. You and the deep meanings in things. I just decided to. Period,” Kaiba replied. He flicked the wipers on as the light right turned into a sudden downpour. He eased off the gas. The window still looked like frosted glass no matter how often the wipers squeaked across them. “Just like I decided that you should accompany me.”

Joey shifted in his seat. Back to them together in a car. Alone. “Whatever, Kaib’. Naomi was busy.”

“Was she now?”

“That’s what she told me,” Joey said.

“And you believe everything you’re told?”

Joey cased Kaiba curiously. As he if was sitting next to a stranger and not his boss. It wasn’t like Kaiba was being nice, per se, but he was awfully candid at the moment. “You got another fever, Kaib’?” Joey asked, and he stuck his hand out, touching Kaiba’s forehead. His hand was batted away.

“This doesn’t require touching.”

Joey replanted his hand. “Yeah, it does. I gotta be sure.” Kaiba’s cheeks were a little red, enough proof to Joey that he was sick.

“Hands off if you want to keep them,” Kaiba hissed, batting Joey’s hand again. His lips pursed, annoyance abundant, but his shoulders slanted, relaxed. Easy. “You’re acting ridiculous.”

“Me? You’re the the one actin’ weird,” Joey protested. He sat back in his seat and crossed his legs. “And the one that grabbed my butt, if ya remember! If you’re sick again, I wanna know so I can make ya go home an’ rest. Even if that means figuring out how to handle a stick.”

Kaiba scoffed. “Your word play is terrible and deliberate.”

“Yeah well, so is yours. But it’s fun, and if ya wanna do it, I’ll do it,” he said without intention. He was so nervous, everything felt like wordplay. “‘S-sides, this ain’t about that. I’m tryin’ to be serious. I want t’ make sure you’re alright. I took ya home once, an’...an’ I’ll do it again.”

He was full serious, but half-joking. Every word was laced with nervous laughter because he didn’t know what this conversation was, or if it was him trying to ask Kaiba out. Kind of. He prayed that, in a worst case scenario, treating it like a joke would save him from a pink slip.

“I know you did,” Kaiba said, low.

“Eh?”

Kaiba cleared his throat. “I know you made me go home and rest. I’m very aware of what happened that day. Mokuba made sure to let me know you stayed and watched over me.”

“That’s just...great...”Either it was him, or the heater was malfunctioning. He went to flick the dial down, stopped by Kaiba gripping his fingers loosely. Joey waited a second before pulling away. Didn’t Kaiba hate touching a second ago?

Shifting about, Joey thought about rolling down the window to expel the excess heat, but it was still raining too damn hard. The lights of oncoming cars were distorted fractals on the windshield. “Mokuba ratted me out, huh?”

“He did.”

“Didn’t even know he was home,” Joey said, forlorn. Though he hadn’t concealed the fact that he had taken Kaiba home, he didn’t mention the latter part. Somehow, he didn’t think it was all that important. He hadn’t stayed that long, maybe a half an hour, just to make sure the doctor arrived and Kaiba was taken care of.

“Why?” Kaiba asked. He whipped into the far right lane.

“I dunno. Thought it was part of my job.”

While Joey expected some piggish snort, the full of burst of laughter and the subsequent fishtail down a small, one-way road make his heart skip a beat. The timer was ticking down, the axe was falling. He would be fired AND dateless before the night was out.

“Isn’t that rich,” Kaiba managed after the fit of laughter ceased.

“Richer than you,” Joey said. “But I did. There ain’t no rules to this. I don’t have any normal duties. Jus’ do what you say an’...figure out the rest. I figured if my job was you then...” Joey’s hands flattened on his knees. “Kaib’, look, I know I asked before but I’m askin’ again: why the hell did you hire me?”

“Because I want you.”

Joey’s head thunked back against the headrest. Every cell in his body froze, anticipating what stupid thing would come out of his mouth in response.

Now. He needed to ask now. That was the only thing he could say. Balling his hands on his knees, Joey exhaled, imagining Naomi’s fervent ‘do it!’.

“Do...you wanna go out for real sometime then?” Joey asked, and he squeezed his eyes closed. He didn’t want to open his eyes and see Kaiba’s twisted, scathing expression at such a stupid, pointless question.

“Joseph...” Kaiba began, slow and deliberate with a hint of ill-at-ease. “I—,”

Joey didn’t get to hear the rest the reply. A blaring horn drowned everything out, and his eyes snapped open to find a pair of headlights practically on the dashboard.

Something screeched. Him. Kaiba. Tires. He didn’t know.

He was too busy admiring the stars as his head cracked against the window.

—

The door popped open with ease, but swung closed against Kaiba’s shin right after. The lesser of his aches. The car was slanted on a short embankment that flattened to a thicket of thin, leafless trees. The headlights that had run them off the road had kept going and didn’t look back. Not even a thought.

The entire front end of the Bugatti was smashed in, and the still hot engine hissed and popped as rain seeped beneath the hood. It was crushed from the initial impact of an errant sign that, along with the flying hydroplane, had sent the car into a tailspin while he slammed the brake down to the floor. Whatever advice he’d been given years before, to turn into the skid, to find something stable to stop against, was recalled after the car slammed against the guardrail. It was bent outwards and whining against the weight of the car.

Blood trailed down Kaiba’s forehead and dropped off his chin.

His window, as well as the windshield and the passenger side window, were woven with spidercracks. The impressive headache had formed as soon as his head bounced off the window, but he hadn’t lost consciousness.

“Fuck...”

Kaiba struggled to find his footing on the rocky embankment, taking stock in the whole scene before pulling out his cell phone and calling for help. The electrical systems had been so damaged that the virtual assistant never asked if he needed help, or ignorantly told him that he’d been in an accident.

From the far distance, he registered that Joey hadn’t moved. Hadn’t complained. Hadn’t even moaned.

His body flattened against the side of the door and stayed there, hands clutched between his thighs and head flopped forward. When car moved, having been unsteadily mounted against the whimpering guardrail, Joey’s head sunk. Kaiba saw a heavy smear of blood.

“...what’s your emergency...?” A voice from the phone said, tunnelled.

“There’s been a wreck,” Kaiba replied calmly. He skidded back down the embankment and set the phone on the dashboard. It slid over to Joey’s side. “Outskirts of Rubik City, near the convention centre. Two occupants...”Kaiba struggled to find words, breathless. His own pain showed itself when he pulled at Joey’s deadweight. He gave another heave before remembering, in his hazy brain, that Joey was still buckled in.

“Sir, are there injuries?”

“Yes. One unconscious,” he replied, still calm. “There’s blood. Head trauma, I think. He...”

“Are they breathing?”

“Yes,” Kaiba said before checking. It took forever Joey’s chest expanded. “Yes, he’s breathing,” he answered softer. The relief made it easier for him to unbuckle Joey and pull once again.

The car tilted further. He lost his purchase on Joey’s blazer and fell into the car.

His knees planted in the seat. Taking Joey with both hands, ignoring the sharp pain forming in his chest, Kaiba yanked him across the middle hump, suddenly missing his last car’s bench seating. Shifting his hold, Joey’s back, full of loose but thready muscle, rested against his chest. He clasped his hands around Joey’s breast and made the last haul over the hump.

In the distance, the emergency responder was still talking, but Kaiba wasn’t answering. He was deaf and numb, trying to figure out what to do with Joey’s body as he stumbled backwards and tripped on the embankment.

His breathing shortened. His heart raced. Joey sat mostly upright against the driver’s side door, his face too serene. Even while bloody and bruised.

This was his fault. He hadn’t paid enough attention and was whipping around just a little too fast out of his own amusement. For Joey’s amusement, too, he corrected. The blond had enjoyed it almost too much, from the very outset, and it was exciting to show off. He didn’t know why he enjoyed showing off to his personal assistant, of all people. The roar of a Bugatti engine, or a Bugatti itself, should have been enough.

Then again, he’d been doing plenty for Joey’s amusement over the last few months. And it had paid off, in so many words.

Rain blotted Kaiba’s vision. The world fragmented into threes. Three Joey’s sitting upright in front of him, eyes fluttering but not conscious in the slightest. One of them could indulge him, couldn’t they? One of them could reach up and wipe the blood away from his brow, or nose, or cheek where the glass had cut him so deep that Kaiba worried about what kind of scar it was going to leave.

With care, Kaiba undid his tie and pulled off his suit jacket. His ribs and chest and arm protested. Using the tie, he wiped the jagged cuts and blood off of Joey’s sun-kissed skin. The blazer was laid across Joey’s knees. What good a rain-soaked jacket did, he couldn’t say. The silk liner was comfortable.

“Don’t let your body fluids ruin it,” Kaiba muttered. “You’ll have to explain it when you take it to the cleaners.”

Sirens bleated in the distance.

Kaiba knelt forward, leaning his shoulder on the side of the car, holding onto Joey’s knee so gravity didn’t pull him away. It was just rest. _Just restin’ your eyes then, whatever_ , he heard, so clear that he glanced up at Joey just to check to be sure he hadn’t actually said it. Or, perhaps, wanting him to.

Something else rang in his head: Joey’s erstwhile question.

Could they go out sometime?

Red, blue, and white lights lit up the night sky. Kaiba struggled to find the answer in his stupor. He had answered before. Had had found words, but had no recollection of them. And with Joey unconscious, it didn’t matter. “Later,” he said to no one, though the EMS had arrived and were talking at him. “Hear me Joseph? Later.”

—

“Sir, you should rest,” said Roland.

Kaiba limped towards Joey’s room. It had formed in the last two days, though he tried to straighten his back and conceal it. It was intermittent depending on how much he refused to stay still. He should have been on bedrest; that had been the stipulation of being let out against medical advice.

Nothing was bad. It was primarily superficial. Vain little cuts from the glass on his face and hands. Bruises. A mild concussion. Fractured ribs. Mokuba had cried when he saw the heavy bandage on Kaiba’s brow, but most of the tears were out of joy that it hadn’t been worse.

Then there was Joey, laid up in room 413.

It was hard to explain to Mokuba just how much the accident weighed on him. Officially, it wasn’t his fault. It was the rain and low visibility, it was the other driver. Except he knew better, that this had been his fault, and the apology hung heavy on his tongue.

He stood in front of Joey’s door so long his legs ached. More than they already ached.

Roland loomed behind him. “I have to do this. Leave, Roland.”

“But sir—,”

“Go get lunch, or find a doctor for Wheeler. I don’t care, just leave.”

The heavy footsteps told him Roland disliked the idea, but obeyed. He slipped into Joey’s room and sat down, letting his back and body relax. The tightness in his ribs was at its worst, but he couldn’t say it was exertion.

“Sup?” Joey greeted.

Kaiba wetted his lips.

Joey had been conscious since arriving in to the ER, and they’d been a gurney apart. He heard Joey’s whining. A five year old fighting everything, his usual complaining starting up. Particularly about being stuck with needles and being held rigid until they could prove that he hadn’t broken his back, neck. All the things that Kaiba hadn’t considered when moving him.

His jacket laid over Joey’s knees, probably still damp.

“When are they letting you out?” asked Kaiba.

Joey shrugged one shoulder. The other was bound to his chest. Collar-bone and dislocated shoulder, Kaiba recalled. “Prolly tomorrow. Gonna be callin’ in for the next, like, week at least.”

“At least,” Kaiba repeated, sarcastic.

“Not that I want to,” Joey said, clenching the collar of the jacket. “Kinda makes all my effort look like shit. An’ I mean, I still gotta finish all those files. I ain’t halfway done with that...it ain’t too stressful, so I can—,”

“Why are you talking about work, Joseph?”

Dark brows rose, but Joey’s eyes half lidded. Stiffly, he moved to get a better look at Kaiba. Whiplash, perhaps. “‘Cause that’s all I figured you’d care about with me. It’s why you’d be here askin’ ‘bout me gettin’ out.”

“You think I think so little of you,” said Kaiba, matter-of-fact. “This isn’t a game anymore, Joseph.”

Another one shoulder shrug. “Don’t know what you mean.”

“You remember what we spoke about in the car. Before the,” Kaiba paused as Joey’s eyes closed and his mouth puckered, “before the crash.”

“Sure, yeah.”

“How much?”

“Enough t’ know I said some stupid shit...sorry, stuff.”

Kaiba smirked. “You’re not on the clock. I don’t care how dirty your mouth is, even if it’s loutish.” The bait was laid out, and he waited the precious seconds it took for Joey’s bruised eyes to catch it.

A small twitch of Joey’s jaw. “You’re tryin’ too hard, now.”

“Am I?”

“Yup,” Joey said. He regarded Kaiba with a minuscule smile. “Man, I’m sorry. You don’t look comfortable at all...an’ ya came all this way here for whatever reason. This is my fault. I admit it. I deserve this for distractin’ ya with stupid questions. I’m surprise ya ain’t fired me yet, too. For...whatever. Almost killin’ ya. Wreckin’ your nice car...missin’ the symp-whatever.”

“Symposium. And no. I have yet to figure out your fixation on being fired,” mused Kaiba. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you have some sort of...fetish for it.”

A breath of a laugh escaped Joey. His grip on the jacket tightened. “Seriously, Kaib’. Either you’re tryin’ too hard, or I’m gettin’ better at catchin’ what you’re throwin’ at me.”

“Perhaps I’m being more obtuse to make a point, Joseph. Consider that I’m here, you’re not fired, and that you seem to recall the question that you posed but not the answer that was given.” Kaiba forced himself to stand and shuffle closer, the limp ignored. He palmed the plastic railing for support before reaching out and prying Joey’s hand from the jacket. He caressed a little bruise on the blond’s knuckle. “I’m...I admit I’m at fault for this. All of it. This build-up, this accident.”

“Kaiba...”

“Be quiet, I’m not done. This isn’t easy.” He was a little numb. He wasn’t good at admitting his faults. “I should have asked you out sooner. But you were annoying. And amusing. It’s also a little too fun to play games with you.”

“You’re such a jerk.”

“Stop interrupting me.”

Joey pulled his hand away and wiped at his eyes. “Nah, can’t. You’re gettin’ weird on me.”

“Are...you crying?”

“No,” Joey said, his thumb flicking at the other eye. “Jus’ allergies. I’d hate to cry, that would make my face hurt worse.”

The shudder in Joey’s chest was obvious. And he hadn’t cleared up the worst of the tears he was terrible at hiding. A pathological liar about his own condition. Where did that sound familiar?

“I admit I took a while to be forward.”

“—not listenin’—“

“But I don’t see why you didn’t ask sooner, either. And since my answer was so rudely interrupted—,”

Joey plugged on ear with his pinky. “Still ain’t listenin’.”

“You’re so annoying,” Kaiba said, sighing. Walking out the door would be just fine right now, but he had to stand his ground. However achy his legs were notwithstanding. “But...I would accept going out.”

Joey’s hand lowered. His shoulder dropped. “I...don’t...you...why?”

Kaiba’s tension eased. “Why?”

“Yeah. Why would ya want to—“

Kaiba scoffed. He sat on the edge of the bed. “The same reason you asked. I don’t understand what it is with you and the deep meanings.”

“Ya kinda make it hard,” Joey said, and quickly added, “ya know, to believe everythin’ you say don’t mean two things.”

“Only because your face is so amusing when you realise what’s been said.” Like the subtle face of ‘oh’ that Joey made when he played back what he had just said. “This is real. No double meanings. You and I will find a time to go out. For real. And perhaps we’ll also put your mouth to work, who knows.”

Joey clicked his tongue. “Sure that ain’t the uh...concussion talkin’?”

“Perhaps.”

“Well then, maybe ya should go home an’ rest. Ya don’t look so hot.”

Kaiba couldn’t subdue the smug smile. “You would know.”

**Author's Note:**

> i Dunno if there will be more in this little...series?...Shall we call it. But it was definitely fun to add to the universe and continue my terrible attempts at humour in spite of pain. 
> 
> Anyways, thanks for reading! Tell me what you think!


End file.
